chuck hagel for defense secretary get as vote in the full senate. the senate finance committee will vote on jack lew as treasury secretary. a lot of push back on both these nominations. neither one of them is considered to be a sure thing. we'll have results for you when those votes come in. >>> also this big story, a second deadly blizzard is hitting a huge chunk of the country right now just days after another powerful storm ripped through. roofs collapsing under the weight of snow that just keeps coming down in this area. icy conditions out there in the midwest and tornado warnings. you don't see that often with snow. that is also weighing on folks in the south and the storm is moving east and that is how we start a brand new hour in "america's newsroom.". great to have you all with us this morning. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning. 80,000 in the heartland waking up without power. it is bitter cold out there. parts of texas actually have hurricane force wind gusts, whipping that snow around and stranding people like this